Elder Caleb Wardle is currently serving in the Iowa, Des Moines mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He reported on August 14, 2013 and will be serving for 2 years. He will be emailing once a week and they will be posted here. He would love it if you sent him a letter!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

What a great week. Things
are always amazing out here in the mission field. It seems like life
can't get better and then it does with conference and what not. I really
appreciate the words of the prophets. Its amazing to feel their love as
we listen and pray about what they said. I know that they all truly are
speaking the words Heavenly Father would have us hear. Well \,
transfers are on Thursday. And elders only get 16 of them... so Im
1/16th done with my mission. which is ridiculous to me. Time is flying. I
asked President Jensen to extend my mission in the last letter I sent.
Elder Berthold mentioned that He has been asking for one since his third
transfer and I figured if I wanted to make it actually happen (which it
probably won't) I should ask as soon as possible.He replied to me and
just didn't mention anything... so that's interesting aha. I got to go
on exchanges with one of the Elder Weiss today. He's a phenomenal guy.
He's going AP for sure. I can just see it in his dedication and he is
consistently exactly obedient. Which is what a leader should be. I
learned a lot from him as well. He is 10 months out. I asked him what
the most important thing he has learned since being a leader was and he
said "Humility. It's hard to tell people who are older than you or the
same age even what to do, but when I find the most success in my mission
and leadership is when I humble myself before the Lord." So that's what
my focus has been. Im trying to humble myself and I know that when I do
that and when our whole disrict and zone do that, we will begin to see
miracles. We continue to work with members. We have five families that
we focus on and we challenged them all to look for the blessings and
promises of doing member missionary work. And look at the outpouring of
blessings that the apostles promised us. Missionary work is a
commandment from the prophet. Its now the time for members and
missionaries to work as one. We can't do it alone anymore. Tracting
barely works. The best referrals are the ones from members in the ward.
So we hope to be able to continue meeting with them and strengthening
them. The best thing members can do is to be an FFT (Finder,
Fellowshipper, Testifier) That's how simple it is. Invite people to come
to church. When you see someone new or someone who hasn't been there in
a while say hi. and bare your testimony to them. Go out with the
missionaries.
Anyways, Im just super passionate about it. And I want to see miracles,
but I want to see them with the members. It will be amazing. We got to
meet with Anthony this week. And he expressed more concerns about
baptism. He is supposed to be baptized this friday but his mom is super
stressed because she is out of work, has 3 kids, and is struggling with
her testimony as well. But we will strive to help her with this as well.
she may call it off if he doesn't so we are kind of stepping in grey
area. But I asked Anthony: Do you feel the spirit when we come over and
teach you and at church? yes. Well where do you think that's coming
from? God. And what is he trying to tell you? I need to be baptized. So
he knows what the right path is we just need to get him to take it. we
invited him to pray and to ask the person who knows. Heavenly Father. We
want him to take God's word for it not ours. But we know this will
bring him peace. So we will see how things pan out. I loved the words of
Elder Uchtdorf and they are perfect for this situation. Doubt your
doubts before you doubt your faith. If only we could help Anthony
understand that. I love you all. And I am truly grateful for each of
you. Ive been sending a bunch of letters... mainly because I didn't know
that I am only supposed to be writing on Pday. I didn't know that. So
hopefully I can keep it up. I will try my best. I love you all. Pray
about what the prophet and his apostles have said. Pray like your life
depends on it. I know that this church is true. Its something I would do
anything to defend. Don't become casual. Don't stop doing what you are
supposed to . Keep going. Your the best. I love ya.